Her various roles change—from dancer to dance company founder, from coach to professor—but her dedication remains steady, with feet firmly in the dance.

Suzanne Farrell

Francis Eppes Professor of Dance
2005 Kennedy Center Honoree

Suzanne Farrell, a name recognized and respected the world over, is Florida State’s Francis Eppes Professor of Dance. She provides students in the Department of Dance with knowledge she has acquired from 28 years involvement at the highest level of the professional world of dance—as ballet master George Balanchine’s muse and as the prominent ballerina for the New York City Ballet.

Her artistry inspired the creation of dance masterpieces and before her retirement from the stage in 1989, she built a repertoire of more than 100 ballets. To ensure that those dances can be shared and learned by younger audiences, she created the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, a company at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in 2000. That same year, she joined FSU’s faculty.

Her contributions to the performing arts and to American culture were recently rewarded with the 2005 Kennedy Center Honors, one of the highest honors an American performing artist may receive. Prior to that, the Capezio Ballet Makers Dance Foundation named her the 54th recipient of the Capezio Dance Award for her tireless efforts on behalf of dance. In 2003, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor in the Arts.

Her various roles change—from dancer to dance company founder, from coach to professor—but her dedication remains steady, with feet firmly in the dance.